No, I’m not actually reading Dickens right now. That would not be a good idea during finals week. It’s more of a general statement regarding the feeling I always have at this time of year.

The crazy, hectic schedule most college students have at this point in the semester brings a lot of stress. Studying is hard. Tests are hard. Studying for a test that could make or break your grade is hard. That’s nothing new.

However, some of the hectic-ness is due to fun activities. Plenty of people are willing to schedule opportunities to feed stressed college students cramming for exams. Different clubs, classes, teams, etc. have end-of-the-year parties. It’s a good kind of busy.

Next year will be completely different. Besides the fact that we’re losing the seniors and gaining new freshmen and transfers, the new academic center that has been under consturction since my freshman year will be completed and used for classes. With only a few buildings on campus, this is a major change. I’ll be a junior, so most of my classes will be for my math major and I’ll be taking the math seminar course.

For now, though, I still have four tests to take for the semester and a lot of studying to do.

I have named the next five weeks or so of my life “The Month of Change.”  Today was my final day of student teaching.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, it’s hard to think of never seeing my precious class again.  I have come to truly love each and every student, hoping and praying for the very best for each individual.  I feel a great sense of accomplishment and pride knowing that I completed all the teacher education program requirements.  Bethel College requires a 4-week full block of responsibilities (where the cooperating teacher is completely out of the room for the entire day).  The other student teacher in my building this semester (from another college) only had a 2-week block.  I think this requirement is a unique and wonderful aspect of Bethel’s program.

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I’m pretty sure it hasn’t hit me yet that I’m not going back.  It’s hard to imagine that my routine will be different next Monday.  Instead of returning to 2^nd grade I will be lining up to practice graduating!  In the early weeks of student teaching when I looked at the calendar and the weeks and weeks that remained before I would complete my student teaching requirements, I thought it would take FOREVER to get to this day.  It turns out the weeks fly by much faster than I could have imagined.

You may think student teachers go to their placements in order to learn how to teach, but it turns out what I was really learning this semester what how to love a child.  We all know those sparkly, bubbly, happy kids who are easy-going and sweet; it’s easy to love them (especially if someone else is disciplining them, and their parents take them home at night).   And we all know those kids who are just plain naughty and you wish their parents would control them!  In a public school classroom, chances are you will have a nice mixture of the two.  But you soon realize that some of those sparkly, bubbly kids can have an attitude when they aren’t in control, and some of the naughty ones can steal your heart.

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Now….to catch-up. Between my last post and now a lot has happened, I was in a movie for Bubbert’s Awards, fell off my bike, Qualified for Nationals and found a job for the summer. First the Bubbert’s Movie, I along with my friends were part of a Bubbert’s movie, I’m a Mennonite (here is the link too it.). For those who don’t know, Bubbert’s is our own little version of the Music Video awards or Movie Awards. Students across campus are encouraged to make their own film and submit it.

Unlike last year in which we only had three videos submitted, there were 7 submitted. We got Honorable Mention, but it was a whole lot of fun. The concept is based off the song Swananana by Baby Bash. A alumni had thought the song said I’m a Mennonite, so our fearless director came up with the lyrics and we made a song.

She was using my computer, which unfortunately crashed right before the movie was due so she had to start over. I felt awful but she go the movie done on time, so that’s all that matters.

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So for about three weeks, my laptop has been out of commission. Fortunately for me, there are awesome people who work here and are able to fix almost anything. So today I was able to get my laptop back (happy dance)!! In those weeks that I was without laptop.

I found out a few things: If I really want to get something done, I should go to the computer lab to work on them, I don’t really need my laptop ( but really enjoy having it), I use my iPhone a lot more when I don’t have my laptop, and I get really lazy when I have to walk across campus too much to use the computers.

I know this is short but I am just so happy to have my laptop back I had to let you know. 🙂

The week of April 16-20 was absolutely crazy!  This was the third week of my “block” which means I am responsible for the entire day totally on my own.  I have done the lesson planning and am supposed to carry out the week from beginning to end.  The first two weeks of my block went very well and I feel comfortable in the classroom with my students.  I really have the confidence necessary for me to teach next year!  Whoo-hoo!  The first two weeks were pretty tiring though, and I know I need to start getting more sleep.  There’s just always so much to do what with lesson planning, prep, or grading to do after school plus working on the KPTP (Kansas Professional Teaching Portfolio, required by the State Department of Education for a teaching license), and don’t even get me started on how far behind schedule I am on wedding planning and shower thank you notes.  There are just not enough hours in the day!

Some of the craziness of this week included an observation by my building’s principal.  I found that I wasn’t nearly as nervous to have him in the classroom as I thought I would.  I really appreciated the fact that he took the time to spend half an hour watching me teach and then 15 minutes the next day to visit about what he had seen and how I can become a better and more effective teacher.  He used the same form and structure for his observation as he does with his yearly review of teachers, so I feel like when it comes time for my first observation next year in my own classroom.

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It’s getting to the point in the semester where seniors are starting to panic a bit over what they’ll be doing after graduation. Many of us have found jobs and/or housing for the summer, and some have found both for the fall as well. Quite a few of us will be entering voluntary service of some sort in the fall, while others are getting married or starting careers. Among my modmates, two are getting married, two have plans for further education in the fall, another has a teaching job lined up, and the rest are continuing their search for employment. I just finalized my plans to move to Oakland, California in the fall to join a Catholic Worker house that works with Latin American immigrants and homeless, so I’m feeling significantly less stress today than I was yesterday!

It’s also the point in the semester when we realize that we’re leaving Bethel. Many of us are ready and can’t wait to walk across the stage. Some, like me, are feeling nostalgic about the last four years, and aren’t quite ready to make the transition. But, ready or not, in two-and-a-half weeks, it will be here. Now we just have a multitude of papers, recitals, concerts, seminars, projects, exams, and finals to squeeze in before that day!

It’s Senior Seminar Season!!  That wonderful time of the year when the campus community is invited to a variety of presentations with titles such as:

• Personality and Perspective: The Effects of Having a Sibling with a Disability
• Branding in Higher Education and Its Effective Application in Television Advertisement: A Bethel College Case Study
• A simple analysis of trends in giving
• Erasure: a process of creation through destruction
• Revision and the Writing Workshop: Editing Our Selves as Therapy
• The Effectiveness of Retrofit Wall Insulation Using a Bethel College Dormitory as an Example
• Peace or Persecution? Mennonites in the Holocaust
• The Panama Canal and the United States-Panamanian Relations It Created
• The Use of Morpholino Oligos in the Controlled Gene Expression of Prion Protein (PrP-1) in Danio rerio
• 2D Video Game Landscaping: From Generation to on-the-fly Isometrism
• Gathering ‘Round to Vision the Future: A Closer Look at Western District Conference and South Central Conference’s Reactions to the Gather ‘Round Sunday School Curriculum and the Next Denominational Curriculum

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“9:00 appointments.  It’s time for 9:00 appointments.  Proceed to the gym if you have a 9:00 appointment. ”

I joined the crowd of professionally dressed college students rushing down the hall to the gym.  The crowd was nervously straightening skits and blazers as they tried to smile at classmates while sizing up the competition moving down the hall with them.  It was ACCK’s [Associated Colleges of Central Kansas which Bethel is a part of] annual Teacher Interview Day.

We were told that registration for Teacher Interview Day would open on a certain day at 5:00pm.  I made sure I was home early that day, sitting in front of my computer, and logged onto the website at 5:00 sharp (registration didn’t open until 5:02 according to the clock in my kitchen and on my computer by the way).  I had already looked through the list of school districts that would be at the event to see who I would be interested in meeting with.  In class we were told to sign up for as many interviews as possible in order to get our names out and gain experience interviewing.  I decided that 9 interviews would really be enough for me even though we could sign up for more.

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Well, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged, and a lot has happened. Spring was right on the horizon back already at the end of February and now it’s in full swing. Spring break has come and gone and we are officially on the downhill side of the semester.

This would seem like a good thing, but it actually means that the honeymoon period of each class is over and the time for projects, term papers and cumulative tests is approaching. The library has a growing population each day, and Mojo’s Coffee Bar is gaining customers as some students are realizing the benefits of caffeine when studying for a test.

Seniors are presenting seminars after months of stress, so gradually the campus is becoming a calmer place to be for a week or two before final exams begin. The end is in sight!